G7 leaders meet in Italy as Boris Johnson pushes for fresh sanctions against Russia

G7 leaders are gathering in Italy today where British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will push for further sanctions on Russia, The Telegraph reported. 

The Foreign Ministers will discuss whether Russia should face fresh financial penalties if it does not pull its armed forces out of Syria and end its support for President Bashar al Assad.

As the foreign ministers of the G7 group of nations met to agree the best way to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin last night, Johnson said the US missile strike had “changed the game” and Russia now “needs a way out” because association with Assad’s “toxic regime is...poisoning the reputation of Russia”.

In a significant hardening of US policy, Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, is understood to have told Johnson America now backs regime change in Syria. On Sunday he had refused to call directly for Assad to go.

Johnson said that Tillerson would go to Russia later this week with a “very clear” message from the G7 countries: “Do they want to stick with a toxic regime, do they want to be eternally associated with a guy who gases his own people, or do they want to work with the Americans and the rest of the G7 and like-minded countries for a new future for Syria?”